Salt and Fat, a fairly new addition to the Queens Couture Cuisine scene

Salt and Fat is a small restaurant on Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside, my old neighborhood, opened in March 2011.  There is a story about the place in the Times today, which prompted me to write this little "review", if you will.  A note here, Salt and Fat was previously mentioned in the Times as part of a list of places to dine after the US Open games, and only now has it been given its own, stand-alone review.  The Times is about the most Manhattan (and tony parts of Brooklyn)-centric publication this city has, so that Salt and Fat has made it in to its pages twice in its first two years is a really big deal.

I dined at Salt and Fat in November of last year.  I have to be honest:  the food was above-average, but I was not completely wowed.  However, just the fact that S&F's type of menu made it to Sunnyside, a working-class neighborhood with Irish roots, is quite significant (nowadays, Sunnyside keeps its working-class roots and its Irish heritage, but you will find many immigrants - and restaurants - from Latin America and Southeast Asia, among others).  Many people already know that the really trendy spots, like Tournesol and M. Wells, et. al., immediately go to Long Island City, so that S&F is in Sunnyside is huge.  It also speaks to the gentrification that is creeping further into Queens (after all, once your neighborhood has a Starbuck's or two, there's no going back), but that is a book I will be writing on another occasion.

Here is their dinner menu, taken from the website:

To start, the server will put bags of popcorn, smothered in bacon fat, on the table.  Tell him/her to keep it coming.  It is seriously addictive.  You can't start your meal without it!!  I highly recommend the scallops, the Korean BBQ wraps (makes sense - Daniel Yi, chef and owner, was born in Seoul) and the BLT buns.  The "Shaved" Hudson Valley foie gras is an interesting looking dish (it looks like a sno-cone), but I was disappointed to note that, although good, it didn't taste as intriguing as it looks. Still, it might be worth it to you to order it!

There are enough great dishes on this menu that I recommend going there with a few friends and eating "family-style" - everyone gets a dish and shares with the table.

Desserts are delicious and creative.  Do not leave S&F without sampling, for example, jalapeno sorbet, or litchi panna cotta.  At the end of the meal, they will offer you Yakult, a Korean yogurt drink.  Drink it.  Trust me, you'll need it in order to "process".

The main decoration motif is, as you see on the menu above, a pig.  One of the reasons I love Koreans is because they are unashamed of their meat-centric menus.  Vegetarians, take care with this one.

Salt & Fat
41-16 Queens Blvd.
Sunnyside, NY.